Planning Applications Received & Station Motorcycle Parking

Hardly any interesting planning applications have come in in recent weeks, however this particular one caught my eye.

PLAN/2016/1139 – 146A Connaught Road – Change of use from taxi rank to hair dressing salon and alterations to shop front.

I fully support this application and will write in favour of it, not that I’ll use it, being follicly challenged, however it is good for the village.

I noticed this a few weeks ago, after the joint work between Jonathan Lord and I regarding the station, and I’ve sat on it ever since. SWT have moved the motorcycle parking from down by the station buildings up to under the ramp at the far end of the car park. All well and good, makes sense, something I requested, the bikes are covered and there are secure railings to lock the bikes to.

Every time I’ve gone past, I still see bikes in the new taxi rank parking, and no bikes in the dedicated parking. It dawned on me that it is simply because SWT, in their efforts to cram as many parking spaces there, have made it so that once you’ve parked up your bike, there are three car parking spaces in front of the bikes that then block all the bikes in. You can’t get the bikes out backwards because of the railings and yet more car spaces. Maybe they’ll fix it in the next franchise period seeing as that is their current answer to almost any question posed.

Cheers.

Kevin